On Being the Hundreth Sheep

Do you know the story of the Good Shepherd in Scripture? The one where the Good Shepherd leaves the 99 to search for the 1 lost sheep?

Have you ever been the hundreth sheep? Have you ever lost your way out of the fold and the Good Shepherd had to go find you and bring you back ? I think we all have, a time or two at least.

But let me throw this idea out for your contemplation. Did you ever consider the fact that someone could be the lost sheep while still in the fold? The Shepherd is nearby, the other 99 sheep are nearby too, but that little hundreth sheep is still lost even though he or she is right there in the fold.

Think about it. We have pews upon pews of Catholics in the Church. The sheep in the pews are counted in the fold. They look good on the outside. They dress nice. They are smart. For all intents and purposes, they are well liked by the rest of the flock. But what we don't see is that they are lost.

You know what they say...the squeaky wheel gets the grease? Sometimes the hundreth sheep doesn't squeak. He/she just sits there in the pew, unable to reach out, lost, hoping that someone will notice. But they don't.

This is a challenge for the Catholic Church. We are much bigger than many little community protestant churches. A protestant church may have only 40 familes in it, or perhaps 200. Many Catholic parishes have 1500 families or more. That is a lot of sheep for an earthly good shepherd to watch over. It is very easy to lose your sheep with those odds.

What is the answer? We can't clone the earthly good shepherds because cloning is against our faith. We can't give them more work to do because they are already stretched thin taking care of the squeaky wheels in the fold and many other aspects of being a shepherd. Perhaps the good shepherds could train and motivate some of the sheep to watch over the other sheep? That way, even though they don't have the skills to take care of all the needs of the lost sheep, they can at least alert the earthly good shepherd that there is a problem in the fold.

As Catholics, we are part of an eternal community, an eternal fold. We want to keep the fold together and we want to keep them moving in the same direction, dutifully following the Good Shepherd to the promised land. We ALL have to be alert for the lost sheep.

Because when a sheep is lost, and hurting, and their needs are not met, eventually they will not be able to follow anymore, or they will curl up into a corner of the pasture and watch the other sheep from afar. And they will wonder...what about me?

Now, in reality, outside of what I am asking you to contemplate, is the reality that the GOOD SHEPHERD, Jesus Christ Himself, knows about the lost sheep, and he calls the good shepherds, the earthly representatives of Jesus Christ, to stand in His place. These earthly good shepherds are great, but not perfect like Jesus, and they have faults. Some times they do not look for the lost sheep, and therein lies the danger. Sometimes they are overwhelmed, or afraid, or just plain too busy.

Many sheep can be injured, lost, stolen by the wolf, or worse yet, taken from the flock forever.

This is a big responsibility for an earthly good shepherd, so that is why we all have to help each other - sheep and shepherds alike. We have to atune our ears to the One True GOOD SHEPHERD so we know what to do and how to minister to one another.

We don't want to lose anymore sheep because someday the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will ask not only the shepherds about the lost sheep, but I believe He will also ask the sheep remaining in the fold about the lost sheep too, where they might be, and what might have happened to them, and why weren't they found.

This is what I'm thinking tonight.....